Image forming device management system and method

ABSTRACT

In an image forming device management system and method, a failure in any of a plurality of image forming devices on a first LAN is detected by a management apparatus. A failure message is transmitted from the management apparatus to a center system via a public switched telephone network when the failure is detected, the failure message including a failure code provided to identify the failure. The failure message, transmitted by the management apparatus, is received at the center system. A database of the center system is accessed by using the failure code of the received failure message so as to produce results of the accessing at the center system. A service department ID is extracted from the database based on the accessing results. A service request message is transmitted from the center system to a service department indicated by the service department ID.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image forming device managementsystem and method which provide remote maintenance of image formingdevices, such as copiers, facsimiles and printers, that are installed atcustomer premises.

2. Description of the Related Art

An image forming device management system in which a center system at acenter location provides remote maintenance of a plurality of imageforming devices, such as printers, copiers, facsimiles and printingpresses, at customer premises through a public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) is known. For example, Japanese Laid-Open PatentApplications No.8-331267 and No.10-217580 disclose the image formingdevice management system of this type.

The image forming device management system of the above type generallyincludes a customer premise system and a center system which are linkedtogether by the PSTN. In the customer premise system, a plurality ofimage forming devices are connected onto a local area network (LAN) atthe customer premises, and a management apparatus for managing the imageforming devices is connected onto the LAN. In the center system, aplurality of clients and a server are connected onto a LAN at thecentral location.

A conventional method for providing remote maintenance of the imageforming devices on the LAN, such as failure message or remote parametersetting, requires the installation of an additional communication path(or a wired or non-wired communication line) which is different from thecommunication path provided for the LAN. Further, in the conventionalmethod, each of the image forming devices on the LAN in the customerpremise system requires the addition of a communication interface unit(the hardware or the firmware) which allows the image forming device tobe connected to the PSTN.

If a wired communication line is installed in one of the image formingdevices in the customer premise system, the cost of the installation ofthe wired communication line is further needed in addition to the costof the installation of the LAN. If a non-wired communication line isinstalled in one of the image forming devices, the image forming devicerequires the incorporation of a radio device that allows the imageforming device to be connected to the PSTN. Both cases willsignificantly increase the cost of facilities installation and the costof communications. Further, the restrictions of the installation of theplurality of image forming devices in the customer premise system areaccompanied, and such will deteriorate the quality of communication offailure messages between the center system and the customer premisesystem due to the facilities environment of the customer premise system.

Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.8-331267 discloses a remotemaintenance method for the image forming devices on the LAN. This remotemaintenance method requires the installation of an additionalcommunication path which is different from the communication pathprovided for the LAN. Further, in this conventional method, each of theimage forming devices requires the addition of a communication interfaceunit which allows the image forming device to be connected to the PSTN.This will significantly increase the cost of facilities installation andthe cost of communications.

Further, in the conventional method, when a failure occurs in any of theimage forming devices on the LAN, the operator in the customer premisesystem may perform a local remedy on the failing image forming device byhimself, or may notify the center system of the failure by a telephonecall. This will place a heavy workload on the operator. It is desired toprovide, with low cost and high reliability, remote maintenance of theimage forming devices at the customer premises from the center location

Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.10-217580 discloses amaintenance method for the image forming devices. This maintenancemethod requires that an electronic mail address provided for sending aservice call thereto be maintained with respect to each of the imageforming devices. When the updating or maintenance of the e/mailaddresses of the individual image forming devices is needed, theworkload for the updating or maintenance will be significantly increasedand the occurrence of an error of the updating will be highly possible.This will significantly increase the cost of facilities installation andthe cost of communications.

FIG. 18 shows the arrangement of a conventional image forming devicemanagement system.

As shown in FIG. 18, in the conventional image forming device managementsystem, one of the plurality of image forming devices 100 on the LAN atthe customer premises is connected through a communication adapter 200to the PSTN. In this arrangement, the image forming device 100 ofinterest generally includes an LAN interface unit (LAN I/F) 100A, acontroller (CNTL) 100B, a mechanical unit (MECHA) 100C, and acommunication interface unit (COMM I/F) 100D. In order to connect theimage forming device 100 through the communication adapter 200 to thePSTN, the image forming device 100 requires the communication interfaceunit 100D.

In the conventional image forming device management system of FIG. 18,when a management device 300 for management of the plurality of imageforming devices 100 is provided on the LAN, it is necessary to newlyinstall another telephone line for the management device 300 that isdifferent from the telephone lines installed for the image formingdevices 100 connected through the communication adapters 200 to thePSTN. This will significantly increase the cost of facilitiesinstallation and the cost of communications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome the above-described problems, preferred embodimentsof the present invention provide an improved image forming devicemanagement system and method that provide, with low cost and highreliability, remote maintenance of the image forming devices at thecustomer premises from the center location.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming devicemanagement system that provides, with low cost and high reliability,remote maintenance of the image forming devices at the customer premisesfrom the center location.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a center systemfor use in an image forming device management system, which provides,with low cost and high reliability, remote maintenance of the imageforming devices.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a managementapparatus of a customer premise system for use in an image formingdevice management system, which allows a center system to provide, withlow cost and high reliability, remote maintenance of the image formingdevices at the customer premises.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image formingdevice management method that provides, with low cost and highreliability, remote maintenance of the image forming devices at thecustomer premises from the center location.

The above-mentioned object of the present invention is achieved by animage forming device management system including a customer premisesystem and a center system linked by a public switched telephone networkPSTN, the customer premise system having a plurality of image formingdevices and a management apparatus connected onto a first LAN atcustomer premises, the center system having one or a plurality ofcomputers connected onto a second LAN at a center location, the imageforming device management system including: monitoring means, providedin the management apparatus, for monitoring operating conditions of theimage forming devices on the first LAN; storing means, provided in themanagement apparatus, for storing results of the monitoring of theoperating conditions by the monitoring means; failure detecting means,provided in the management apparatus, for detecting a failure in any ofthe image forming devices on the first LAN; first message means,provided in the management apparatus, for transmitting a failure messageto the center system via the PSTN when a failure is detected by thefailure detecting means, the failure message including a failure codeprovided to identify the failure; reading means, provided in the centersystem, for reading the results of the monitoring of the operatingconditions of the image forming devices from the management apparatus;retrieval means, provided in the center system, for receiving thefailure message transmitted by the first message means, and foraccessing a database of the center system by using the failure code ofthe received failure message so as to produce results of the accessing;and second message means, provided in the center system, for extractinga service department ID from the database based on the accessing resultsproduced by the retrieval means, and for transmitting a service requestmessage to a service department indicated by the service department ID.

The above-mentioned object of the present invention is achieved by acenter system for use in an image forming device management systemincluding a customer premise system and the center system linked by apublic switched telephone network PSTN, the customer premise systemhaving a plurality of image forming devices and a management apparatusconnected onto a first LAN at customer premises, the center systemhaving one or a plurality of computers connected onto a second LAN at acenter location, the center system including: reading means for readingresults of monitoring of operating conditions of the image formingdevices from the management apparatus; retrieval means for receiving afailure message transmitted by the management apparatus via the PSTN,and for accessing a database of the center system by using a failurecode contained in the received failure message so as to produce resultsof the accessing; and message means for extracting a service departmentID from the database based on the accessing results produced by theretrieval means, and for transmitting a service request message to aservice department indicated by the service department ID.

The above-mentioned object of the present invention is achieved by amanagement apparatus for use in an image forming device managementsystem including a customer premise system and a center system linked bya public switched telephone network PSTN, the customer premise systemhaving a plurality of image forming devices and the management apparatusconnected onto a first LAN at customer premises, the center systemhaving one or a plurality of computers connected onto a second LAN at acenter location, the management apparatus including: monitoring meansfor monitoring operating conditions of the image forming devices on thefirst LAN; storing means for storing results of the monitoring of theoperating conditions by the monitoring means; failure detecting meansfor detecting a failure in any of the image forming devices on the firstLAN; and message means for transmitting a failure message to the centersystem via the PSTN when a failure is detected by the failure detectingmeans, the failure message including a failure code provided to identifythe failure.

The above-mentioned object of the present invention is achieved by amanagement method for an image forming device management systemincluding a customer premise system and a center system linked by apublic switched telephone network PSTN, the customer premise systemhaving a plurality of image forming devices and a management apparatusconnected onto a first LAN at customer premises, the center systemhaving one or a plurality of computers connected onto a second LAN at acenter location, the management method including the steps of:monitoring operating conditions of the image forming devices on thefirst LAN by the management apparatus; storing results of the monitoringof the operating conditions of the image forming devices; detecting afailure in any of the image forming devices on the first LAN by themanagement apparatus; transmitting a failure message from the managementapparatus to the center system via the PSTN when the failure isdetected, the failure message including a failure code provided toidentify the failure; reading the monitoring results from the managementapparatus by the center system; receiving the failure message,transmitted by the management apparatus, at the center system; accessinga database of the center system by using the failure code of thereceived failure message so as to produce results of the accessing;extracting a service department ID from the database based on theaccessing results; and transmitting a service request message from thecenter system to a service department indicated by the servicedepartment ID.

The image forming device management system and method of the presentinvention is effective in providing a simple, inexpensive configurationof the system and in carrying out, with high reliability, the remotemaintenance of the image forming devices at the user premises from thecenter location. The image forming device management system of thepresent invention can provide, with low cost and high reliability, theremote maintenance of the image forming devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the following detailed description when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming device management system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data communication device in the imageforming device management system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing one preferred embodiment of the imageforming device management system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a client and a server in a center system ofthe image forming device management system.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a communication adapter in a customerpremise system of the image forming device management system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a remote maintenance process of theimage forming device management system.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are diagrams showing an example of customer recordsstored in a customer database of the center system in the image formingdevice management system.

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are diagrams showing an example of facility recordsstored in a facility database of the center system in the image formingdevice management system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of failure records stored in atechnical database of the center system in the image forming devicemanagement system.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of failure message recordsstored in a failure message database of the center system in the imageforming device management system.

FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B are diagrams showing the formats of failuremessages used by the image forming device management system.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an image forming device management list ona display monitor of the management apparatus.

FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B and FIG. 13C are diagrams showing the formats ofmanagement apparatus parameter setting commands used in the imageforming device management system.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a device-type-basis messagedestination table used in the image forming device management system.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing another preferred embodiment of the imageforming device management system of the invention.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a management apparatus in the customerpremise system of the image forming device management system.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of the image formingdevice management system according to the invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of a conventionalimage forming device management system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A description will now be provided of preferred embodiments of thepresent invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the arrangement of an image forming device managementsystem. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming device management systemgenerally comprises a plurality of image forming devices 101 through 105(which are also referred to as the image forming devices 100) that arelocated at the customer premises, a central control equipment 260 thatis located at the central location, and a data communication device 200that is located at the customer premises. The data communication device200 and the central control equipment 260 are linked together by apublic switched telephone network (PSTN) 250. The image forming devicemanagement system is configured so that the central control equipment260 at the central location provides remote maintenance of the imageforming devices 100 at the customer premises through the PSTN 250 in aconcentrated manner.

In the image forming device management system of FIG. 1, the datacommunication device 200 receives a command signal from the centralcontrol equipment 260 via the PSTN 250, and selectively instructs one ofthe image forming devices 100 by sending the command signal thereto.Further, the data communication device 200 locally receives variousmessages from the image forming devices 100, and transmits them to thecentral control equipment 260 via the PSTN 250. Power is supplied to thedata communication device 200 for 24 hours. The data communicationdevice 200 is always operating, even in the nighttime that the powerswitch of the image forming devices 100 is turned off, so that itprovides data communication between the image forming devices 100 andthe central control equipment 260.

In the image forming device management system of FIG. 1, the datacommunication device 200 and the image forming devices 100 are connectedtogether by using a serial communication interface RS-485 cable, and theindividual image forming devices 100 are connected onto a multi-dropline from the data communication device 200, as shown in FIG. 1. Thedata communication device 200 communicates with the image formingdevices 100 by performing polling and selecting processes on themulti-drop line. By using the polling and selecting processes, the datacommunication device 200 monitors the operating conditions of the imageforming devices 100 and obtains the monitoring results as to theoperating conditions of the image forming devices 100.

FIG. 2 shows the arrangement of the data communication device 200 in theimage forming device management system of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2,the data communication device 200 generally comprises a controller 201,an auto dialer 202, and a line switching device 203. A telephone set 204is attached to the line switching device 203.

In the data communication device 200 of FIG. 2, the controller 201 sendsa control signal to any of the image forming devices 100, and receives acommand signal from the central control equipment 260 via the PSTN 250.The auto dialer 202 provides an automatic call to the central controlequipment 260 when a certain message sent by the image forming devices100 is received at the data communication device 200. The line switchingdevice 203 provides a line switching function under the control of thecontroller 201. In some cases, the line switching device 203 connectsthe telephone set 204 to the PSTN 250 by disconnecting the auto dialer202 therefrom, and, in other cases, the line switching device 203connects the auto dialer 202 to the PSTN 250 by disconnecting thetelephone set 204 therefrom.

A detailed configuration of the controller 201 will be omitted from theaccompanying drawings, for the sake of simplicity. However, thecontroller 201 has a configuration that is essentially the same as thatof a known microprocessor.

Specifically, the controller 201 generally includes a central processingunit (CPU), a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), abackup random access memory (backup RAM), serial communication controlunit, input/output ports, and a real-time clock circuit. A controlprogram is stored in the ROM. The CPU loads the control program, readfrom the ROM, onto the RAM, and executes various control processesaccording to the control program. The data processed by the controller201 is temporarily stored in the RAM. The backup RAM is a nonvolatilememory to which power of a battery is supplied. The clock circuitprovides time information including a current date (year, month, day)and a current time (hour, minute, second).

The data and parameters, stored in the backup RAM of the controller 201,include the signals or messages transmitted between the central controlequipment 260 and the image forming devices 100, the device codes ordevice IDs used to identify a specific one of the image forming devices100, the phone number of the central control equipment 260, the numberof retry calls in the event that the connection between the datacommunication device 200 and the central control equipment 260 is notsuccessfully established, the time interval between retry calls, etc.

The functions provided by the controller 201 include a buffer managementfunction used to temporarily store a received message and process it, aclock control function used to control the device operations based onthe time provided by an internal clock IC, a sum check function used tocheck for an error in the device parameters at the times of power-up andparameter download or at the intervals of one hour, a memory checkfunction used to check for an error in the RAM at the time of power-upor initialization, and an exchange function used to perform call andreception processes. The exchange function is provided, for example, toset the data communication device 200 in an off-hook condition andoutput a selected phone number when the telephone line is not used, todetect a ringer signal, to set the telephone line in an off-hookcondition, and to detect the device ID. The controller 201 is connectedto an RS-485 cable extended to the image forming devices 100, andconnected to an RS-232C cable extended to a management apparatus.Further, the functions of the controller 201 include a communicationcontrol function used to perform the basic communication procedures.

Next, a description will be given of the arrangement of the imageforming device management system of the present invention by comparisonwith the arrangement of the conventional image forming device managementsystem shown in FIG. 18.

FIG. 17 shows the arrangement of the image forming device managementsystem according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 17, in theimage forming device management system of the invention, each of aplurality of image forming devices 10 on a local area network (LAN) 16at the customer premises is connected through a management apparatus 15to the PSTN. In this arrangement, each of the image forming devices 10generally includes an LAN interface unit (LAN I/F) 10A, a controller(CNTL) 10B, and a mechanical unit (MECHA) 10C. Each image forming device10 is connected to the management apparatus 15 through the LAN interfaceunit 10A, and a single telephone line that is provided for themanagement apparatus 15 is shared by the image forming devices 10 on theLAN 16.

As the image forming devices 10 on the LAN 16 are connected through themanagement apparatus 15 to the PSTN in the image forming devicemanagement system of the present invention, each image forming device 10does not require the communication interface unit 100D as in theconventional image forming device management system of FIG. 18. Further,the image forming device management system of the present invention doesnot require the installation of additional telephone lines for the imageforming devices 10 which are different from the telephone line providedfor the management apparatus 15.

In the image forming device management system of FIG. 17, the managementapparatus 15 is provided on the LAN 16, and the image forming devices 10on the LAN 16 are connected through the management apparatus 16 to thePSTN. In order for a center system at a central location to provideremote maintenance of the image forming devices 10 at the customerpremises through the PSTN, it is not necessary to install additionaltelephone lines for the image forming devices 10 that are different fromthe telephone line provided for the management apparatus 15.Accordingly, it is possible for the image forming device managementsystem of the invention to provide, with low cost and high reliability,remote maintenance of the image forming devices 10 at the customerpremises.

FIG. 3 shows one preferred embodiment of the image forming devicemanagement system of the present invention.

In the image forming device management system shown in FIG. 3, aplurality of customer premise systems 1-1, 1-2, . . . (which are alsoreferred to as the customer premise systems 1) and a center system 2 atthe central location are linked by the public switched telephone network(PSTN) 3, and the center system 2 and a plurality of service departments8 (including a service department1, a service department2, . . . ) arelinked by the PSTN 3.

FIG. 15 shows another preferred embodiment of the image forming devicemanagement system of the present invention.

In the image forming device management system shown in FIG. 15, theplurality of customer premise systems 1-1 at the customer premises andthe center system 2 at the central location are linked by the PSTN 3,and the center system 2 and a plurality of service departments 8-1, 8-2,. . . (which are also called the service departments 8) at servicelocations are linked by a private communication line network (PCLN) 4.

Next, a description will be provided of the configuration of the imageforming device management system shown in FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, each of the customer premise systems 1 (including acustomer premise system 1-1 and a customer premise system 1-2) generallycomprises a plurality of image forming devices 10 (including facsimiles11, printers 12, copiers 13 and printing presses 14) and a managementapparatus 15 which are all connected onto a first LAN 16. The imageforming devices 10 are connected through the management apparatus 15 tothe PSTN 3. Some of the customer premise systems 1 (such as the customerpremise system 1-2) further include a communication adapter 17 which isconnected to both the facsimile 11 and the management apparatus 15. Inthis arrangement, the management apparatus 15 is connected through thecommunication adapter 17 to the PSTN 3, and the telephone line, whichprovided for the facsimile 11 to connect to the PSTN 3, is shared withthe management apparatus 15 by using the communication adapter 17. Thereis no need for providing an additional telephone line for the managementapparatus 15 which is different from the telephone line for thefacsimile 11.

In the customer premise systems 1, a plurality of computers (includingthe server and the clients) may be connected onto the LAN 16. However,in the embodiment of FIG. 3, such computers on the LAN 16 will beomitted for the sake of simplicity.

In the image forming device management system of FIG. 3, the centersystem 2 generally comprises a plurality of clients 21 (such as aclient1, a client2, etc.) and a server 22 which are all connected onto asecond LAN 23 of the center system 2. The server 22 generally includes acustomer database (CUSTOMER DB) 24, a facility database (FACILITY DB)25, and a technical database (TECHNICAL DB) 26 which are connected tothe server 22. As described above, the center system 2 at the centrallocation and the plurality of service departments 8 at the servicelocations are linked by the PSTN 3. The data communication between thecenter system 2 and one of the service departments 8 can be achieved byestablishing the connection between the center system 2 and the one ofthe service departments 8 via the PSTN 3.

FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of the client 21 and the server 22 in thecenter system 2 of the image forming device management system of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 4, the client 21 generally comprises a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 31, a real-time clock circuit (R/T CLK) 32,communication control units (COMM CNTL) 33, a read-only memory (ROM) 34,a random access memory (RAM) 35, a storage control unit (STOR CNTL) 36,a hard disk drive (HDD) 37, a display control unit (DSP CNTL) 38, acathode-ray tube display monitor (CRT DSP) 39, a keyboard interface unit(KEYBRD I/F) 40, a keyboard (KEYBRD) 41, and a LAN interface unit (LANI/F) 42. The client 21 is connected through the communication controlunits 33 to the PSTN 3. The client 21 is connected through the LANinterface unit 42 to the LAN 23.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the server 22 generally comprises a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 51, a real-time clock circuit (R/T CLK) 52, aread-only memory (ROM) 53, a random access memory (RAM) 54, a storagecontrol unit (STOR CNTL) 55, a hard disk drive (HDD) 56, a displaycontrol unit (DSP CNTL) 57, a cathode-ray tube display monitor (CRT DSP)58, a keyboard interface unit (KEYBRD I/F) 59, a keyboard (KEYBRD) 60,and a LAN interface unit (LAN I/F) 61. The server 22 is connectedthrough the LAN interface unit 61 to the LAN 23.

In the embodiment of FIG. 15, the central system 2 includes the server22, and the server 22 in this embodiment further includes a router 27connected to the private communication line network (PCLN) 4. Hence, theserver 22 of the central system 2 in this embodiment is connectedthrough the router 27 to the PCLN 4. The server 22 of the center system2 at the central location and the plurality of service departments 8 atthe service locations are linked together by the PCLN 4. The datacommunication between the center system 2 and one of the servicedepartments 8 can be achieved by establishing the connection between thecenter system 2 and the one of the service departments 8 via the PCLN 4.

FIG. 5 shows the communication adapter 17 in the customer premise system1-2 of the image forming device management system of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 5, the communication adapter 17 generally comprises aline switching device (LINE SW) 71, a central processing unit (CPU) 72,a switch (SW) 73, a read-only memory (ROM) 74, a modem 75, aninput/output interface (S I/O) 76, an input/output interface (S I/O) 77,a random access memory (RAM) 78, and a battery (BATT) 79. Thecommunication adapter 17 is connected through the S I/O 76 to adedicated interface (not shown). The communication adapter 17 isconnected through the S I/O 77 to the management apparatus 15 of thecustomer premise system 1-2.

Further, in the communication adapter 17 of FIG. 5, the facsimile 11 onthe LAN 16 is connected to the line switching device 71. The telephoneline from the PSTN 3 is connected to the line switching device 71 of thecommunication adapter 17. Hence, the management apparatus 15 of thecustomer premise system 1-2 is connected through the communicationadapter 17 to the PSTN 3 in the image forming device management systemshown in FIG. 3.

As previously described, in the image forming device management systemshown in FIG. 15, the server 22 of the central system 2 in thisembodiment is connected through the router 27 to the PCLN 4. Theplurality of service departments 8 (such as the service departments 8-1,8-2, etc.) respectively include a router 87 and a number of computers 81that are connected onto the LAN. Each of the plurality of servicedepartments 8 is connected through the router 87 to the PCLN 4.Accordingly, in the embodiment of FIG. 15, the server 22 of the centersystem 2 at the central location and the plurality of servicedepartments 8 at the service locations are linked together by the PCLN4. The data communication between the center system 2 and one of theservice departments 8 can be achieved by establishing the connectionbetween the center system 2 and the one of the service departments 8 viathe PCLN 4.

Next, FIG. 16 shows the arrangement of the management apparatus 15 inthe customer premise system 1 of the image forming device managementsystem of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 16, the management apparatus 15 generally comprises acentral processing unit (CPU) 151, a read-only memory (ROM) 152, arandom access memory (RAM) 153, a real-time clock circuit (R/T CLK) 154,a storage control unit (STOR CNTL) 155, a hard disk drive (HDD) 156, acommunication control unit (COMM CNTL) 157, a display control unit (DSPCNTL) 158, a cathode-ray tube display monitor (CRT DSP) 159, a keyboardinterface unit (KEYBRD I/F) 160, a keyboard (KEYBRD) 161, and a LANinterface unit (LAN I/F) 162. The management apparatus 15 is connectedthrough the communication control unit 157 to the PSTN 3. The managementapparatus 15 is connected through the LAN interface unit 162 to the LAN16 of the customer premise system 1.

Next, a description will be provided of a remote maintenance processexecuted by the image forming device management system of FIG. 3. FIG. 6shows the remote maintenance process of the image forming devicemanagement system of FIG. 3.

As described above, in the center system 2, the customer database 24storing a set of customer records that are concerned with the remotemaintenance of the center system 2, the facility database 25 storing aset of facility records that are concerned with the remote maintenanceof the center system 2, and the technical database 26 storing a set offailure records that are pertinent to the image forming devices 100 inthe image forming device management system are provided in advance.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B show an example of customer records stored in thecustomer database 24 of the image forming device management system ofFIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B, each of the customer records,stored in the customer database 24, includes a customer identificationfield (CUSTOMER ID), a customer name field, a customer address field, acustomer department field, a responsible person name field, a telephonenumber field, a facsimile number field, a communication adapter type andidentification field, a sales department identification field (DEPT ID),a service department identification field (DEPT ID), etc. The customerdatabase 24 is provided for the center system 2 to identify a servicedepartment ID of the relevant record among the stored customer recordsfrom an extracted customer ID.

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B show an example of facility records stored in thefacility database 25 of the image forming device management system ofFIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B, each of the facility records,stored in the facility database 25, includes a device group field, adevice type field (DEVICE TYPE), a device identification field (DEVICEID), a delivery date field, a delivery method field, a customeridentification field (CUSTOMER ID), a maintenance contract field,another facility information field, etc. The facility database 25 isprovided for the center system 2 to identify a customer ID of therelevant record among the stored facility records from a specific devicetype and device ID of a received failure message.

FIG. 9 shows an example of failure records stored in the technicaldatabase 26 of the image forming device management system of FIG. 3. Asshown in FIG. 9, each of the failure records, stored in the failuredatabase 26, includes a failure code field (FAILURE CODE), a failurename field, a symptoms field, a causes field, a plurality of remedy codefields (REMEDY CODE (a), REMEDY CODE (b), REMEDY CODE (c)), etc. Thefailure database 26 is provided for the center system 2 to identify oneor a plurality of causes and remedy codes of the relevant record amongthe stored failure records from a specific failure code of a receivedfailure message.

As shown in FIG. 6, when a failure (such as lack of paper, paper jam,lack of toner, a malfunction, etc.) has occurred in one of the imageforming devices 10 (such as the facsimile 11, the printer 12, the copier13 or the printing press 14), the image forming device management systemof the present embodiment starts execution of the remote maintenanceprocess. The failing image forming device 10 automatically transmits afailure message (shown in FIG. 11A) to the management device 15 via theLAN interface unit 162. FIG. 11A shows the format of the failure messagesent from the image forming device 10 to the management apparatus 15 inthe image forming device management system of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG.11A, the failure message generally includes a device type of the imageforming device 10, a device ID of the image forming device 10, anoperating condition code of the image forming device 10, a failure code,an occurrence date, an occurrence time, and a management informationbase (MIB) information. The MIB information, contained in the failuremessage, is an operation status management date item which is suppliedby the controller 10B or the LAN interface unit 10A of the image formingdevice 10. The MIB information is supplied from each of the imageforming devices 10 to the management apparatus 15 for the purpose ofmanagement of the operation status of each image forming device 10.

In the management apparatus 15, a control program for managing the LANresources and the image forming devices 10 on the LAN 16 (which will bereferred to as the image forming device management program) is alwaysrunning on the RAM 153. By performing the polling process under thecontrol of the image forming device management program, the managementapparatus 15 determines whether any of the image forming devices 10 onthe LAN 16 is waiting for sending a failure message to the managementapparatus 15. By using the polling process, the management apparatus 15monitors the operating conditions of the individual image formingdevices 10 and obtains the monitoring results as to the operatingconditions of the image forming devices 10. During the remotemaintenance process, the management apparatus 15 displays an imageforming device management list on the display monitor 159 under thecontrol of the image forming device management program.

FIG. 12 shows the image forming device management list on the displaymonitor 159 of the management apparatus 15. As described above withreference to FIG. 6, when the failure message (the format of which isshown in FIG. 11A), sent by the image forming device 10, is received atthe management apparatus 15, the management apparatus 15 immediatelystores the failure message and displays the data items of the receivedfailure message in the management list on the display monitor 159 asshown in FIG. 12.

In the example of FIG. 12, the image forming device management listindicates that a second tray paper supply problem has occurred in theimage forming device having the device type “LP501” and the device ID“40086”, and that a drum trouble has occurred in the image formingdevice having the device type “LP500” and the device ID “38664”. In the“REMARKS” column of the former failure record of the management list,the “message sent” indicator is set in ON state, which means that therelated failure message is already sent to the center system 2 by themanagement apparatus 15. In the “REMARKS” column of the latter failurerecord of the management list, the “message sent” is set in OFF state,which means that the related failure message is not yet sent to thecenter system 2 by the management apparatus 15.

Further, in the example of FIG. 12, an auto or manual message modeindicator is displayed on the monitor 159 together with the imageforming device management list. The message mode indicator isselectively set to one of the auto message mode or the manual messagemode in accordance with the operator's manual operation or the centersystem's setting command, which is useful to inform the operator whichof the auto message mode or the manual message mode is currentlyselected by the management apparatus 15.

Further, in the example of FIG. 12, a current date/time indicator isalso displayed on the monitor 159 together with the image forming devicemanagement list. The current date/time indicator is useful to inform theoperator of the current date and time supplied by the real-time clockcircuit 154.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the management apparatus 15 is set in the automessage mode, the management apparatus 15 automatically transmits afailure message (shown in FIG. 11B) to the center system 2 via the PSTN3.

FIG. 11B shows the format of the failure message sent from themanagement apparatus 15 to the center system 2 in the image formingdevice management system of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 11B, the failuremessage generally includes a device type of the image forming device 10,a device ID of the image forming device 10, a failure code, anoccurrence date, an occurrence time, and a responsible person'stelephone number and name.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the failure message, sent by the managementapparatus 15, is received at the center system 2, the center system 2accesses the technical database 26 (shown in FIG. 9) by using thespecific failure code of the received failure message as the keyword.From the failure record that matches with the specific failure codeamong the stored failure records of the technical database 26, thecenter system 2 extracts the failure name, the symptoms, the causes, andthe remedy codes (a), (b) and (c), and stores all the extracted dataitems.

Next, the center system 2 accesses the facility database 25 (shown inFIG. 8A and FIG. 8B) by using the specific device type and device ID ofthe received failure message as the keyword. From the facility recordthat matches with the specific device type and device ID among thestored facility records of the facility database 25, the center system 2extracts the customer ID and other data items, and stores all theextracted data items.

Further, the center system 2 accesses the customer database 24 (shown inFIG. 7A and FIG. 7B) by using the extracted customer ID as the keyword.From the customer record that matches with the specific customer IDamong the stored customer records of the customer database 24, thecenter system 2 extracts the service department ID. The extractedservice department ID is used to identify a specific one of theplurality of service departments 8 in the image forming devicemanagement system that is responsible for servicing the failing imageforming device 10. Then, the center system 2 creates a service requestmessage including the received failure message data items and theextracted data items (including the failure name, the symptoms, thecauses, the remedy codes and others) in a predetermined format (either afax format or an electronic mail format), and transmits the createdmessage to the service department 8 (whose location is identified by theextracted service department ID) via the PSTN 3 (or via the PCLN 4).

Further, in the center system 2, a failure message database (not shownin FIG. 3) which stores failure message records concerning the historyof the failures of the image forming devices 10 is provided, in additionto the customer database 24, the facility database 25 and the technicaldatabase 26.

FIG. 10 shows an example of failure message records stored in thefailure message database of the center system 2 in the image formingdevice management system of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 10, each of thefailure message records, stored in the failure message database,generally includes a device type field, a device ID field, an occurrencedate field, an occurrence time field, a failure code field, a remedycode field, an action field, and a responsible department field. Thefailure message database is provided for the center system 2 to identifyone of the plurality of failure messages that have been received fromthe image forming devices 10 at the center system 2.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, when the service request message (in thefax format or the e/mail format), sent by the center system 2, isreceived at the service department 8, the service department 9 takesnecessary actions for eliminating the failure of the image formingdevice 10 based on the contents of the received message. As needed, theservice department 8 will send a service person to the location of thefailing image forming device 10.

Next, a description will be given of the manual message mode of themanagement apparatus 15 in another preferred embodiment of the imageforming device management system of the invention. In the manual messagemode, the management apparatus 15 transmits a failure message to thecenter system 2 via the PSTN 3 after a manual message sending operationis performed on the management apparatus 15 by the operator.

When the management apparatus 15 is set in the manual message mode, themanagement apparatus 15 and the operator carry out the followingoperations.

When a failure message sent by the failing image forming device 10 isreceived at the management apparatus 15, the management apparatus 15immediately displays the data items of the received message in the imageforming device management list on the display monitor 159. The dataitems related to the failing image forming device in the management liston the display monitor 159 (corresponding to the received message) isset, at this time, in a red-color state (or a blinking or high-lightedstate), which is noticeable to the operator on the management apparatus15. The operator performs, for example, a manual retrieval operation onthe management apparatus 15 to access the technical database 26 of thecenter system 2 through the PSTN 3 by using the failure code of thereceived failure message as the keyword, and obtains the retrievalresults from the center system 2. Then, the operator determines whethera local remedy against the failure of the image forming device withinthe customer premise system 1 is possible, based on the retrievalresults.

When it is determined that the local remedy is possible, the operatoreither performs necessary operations on the management apparatus 15 soas to take the remedy action on the image forming device 10, or directlyperforms the remedy action on the image forming device. The operationsperformed on the management apparatus 15 by the operator may include theanalysis of the causes of the failure, the downloading of the driver orthe firmware from the manufacturer of the image forming device, or thetesting of the operation of the image forming device.

As shown in FIG. 6, the operation status of the image forming device 10after the remedy action is taken is stored in the management apparatus15. The operator can perform a manual operation on the managementapparatus 15 so as to transmit a failure message to the center system 2in order for recording the failure message in the failure messagedatabase.

On the other hand, when it is determined that making a service requestto the service department 8, rather than performing the local remedy, isnecessary, the operator performs a manual operation on the managementapparatus 15 so as to send the failure message (the format of which isshown in FIG. 11B) to the center system 2 via the PSTN 3.

In the management apparatus 15, the telephone number of the failuremessage destination, the fax number thereof, the e/mail address thereof,the network address thereof and/or the “http” (hypertext transferprotocol) address thereof are preset, and they can be modified to newsetting data. Also, in the management apparatus 15, the method ofsending the failure message to the destination is preset, and it can bemodified to a new setting data. After the failure message is transmittedfrom the management apparatus 15 to the center system 2, the “messagesent” indicator of the failure message of concern on the display monitor159 is set in ON state.

Next, a description will be provided of the auto message mode of themanagement apparatus 15 in another preferred embodiment of the imageforming device management system of the invention. In the auto messagemode, the management apparatus 15 automatically transmits a failuremessage to the center system 2 via the PSTN 3 upon occurrence of afailure in any of the image forming devices 10 on the LAN 16.

When the management apparatus 15 is set in the auto message mode, themanagement apparatus 15 carries out the following operations.

When a first failure message (the format of which is shown in FIG. 11A)sent by the failing image forming device 10 is received at themanagement apparatus 15, the management apparatus 15 adds, to thereceived message, the message transmission date and time, and theresponsible person's telephone number and name, and creates a secondfailure message (the format of which is shown in FIG. 11B). Then, themanagement apparatus 15 automatically transmits the second failuremessage to the center system 2 via the PSTN 3.

Next, a description will be provided of a message mode setting commandwhich is transmitted from the center system 2 to the managementapparatus 15 in another preferred embodiment of the image forming devicemanagement system of the invention.

In the present embodiment, the message mode setting of the managementapparatus 15 can be changed from the auto message mode to the manualmessage mode, and vice versa, in accordance with either the operator'smanual operation that is locally performed on the management apparatus15, or the center system's message mode setting command that is remotelysent to the management apparatus 15.

FIG. 13A shows the format of a message mode setting command which isremotely transmitted from the center system 2 to the managementapparatus 15. As shown in FIG. 13A, the setting command includes acommand code “XX . . . 1”, which represents the message mode settingcommand. A secondary code “X”, following the command code, in thesetting command represents one of the auto message mode (“1”) or themanual message mode (“0”).

Alternatively, as described above, the message mode setting of themanagement apparatus 15 may be changed between the auto message mode andthe manual message mode in accordance with the operator's manualoperation that is locally performed on the management apparatus 15.

The above feature of the present embodiment is useful to inform theoperator which of the auto message mode or the manual message mode iscurrently selected by the image forming device management program.

Next, a description will be provided of a message destination settingcommand which is transmitted from the center system 2 to the managementapparatus 15 in another preferred embodiment of the image forming devicemanagement system of the invention.

In the present embodiment, the message destination setting of themanagement apparatus 15 can be changed from a stored message destinationnumber to a new message destination number in accordance with either theoperator's manual operation that is locally performed on the managementapparatus 15, or the center system's message destination setting commandthat is remotely sent to the management apparatus 15.

FIG. 13B shows the format of a message destination setting command whichis remotely transmitted from the center system 2 to the managementapparatus 15. As shown in FIG. 13B, the setting command includes acommand code “XX . . . 2”, which represents the message destinationsetting command. A secondary code “X”, following the command code, inthe setting command represents one of the new message destinationtelephone number (“0”), the new message destination e/mail address(“1”), or the new message destination network address (“2”).

Alternatively, as described above, the message destination setting ofthe management apparatus 15 may be changed from the stored messagedestination number to a new message destination number in accordancewith the operator's manual operation that is locally performed on themanagement apparatus 15.

The above feature of the present embodiment is useful to provideflexibility in updating the parameter of the remote maintenance of theimage forming devices, which is currently selected by the image formingdevice management program.

Next, a description will be provided of a device-type-basis messagedestination setting command which is transmitted from the center system2 to the management apparatus 15 in another preferred embodiment of theimage forming device management system of the invention.

In the present embodiment, the device-type-basis message destinationsetting of the management apparatus 15 can be changed from storeddevice-type-basis message destination numbers to new device-type-basismessage destination numbers in accordance with either the operator'smanual operation that is locally performed on the management apparatus15, or the center system's device-type-basis message destination settingcommand that is remotely sent to the management apparatus 15.

FIG. 13C shows the format of a device-type-basis message destinationsetting command which is remotely transmitted from the center system 2to the management apparatus 15. As shown in FIG. 13C, the settingcommand includes a command code “XX . . . 3”, which represents thedevice-type-basis message destination setting command. A secondary code“X”, following the command code, in the setting command represents aspecific one of a number of different device types of the image formingdevices 10. In the example of FIG. 13C, a new message destinationtelephone number is included at a location following the secondary codein the setting command for the case of device type 1. Further, in theexample of FIG. 13C, a new message destination telephone number and anew message destination e/mail address are included at locationsfollowing the secondary code in the setting command for the case ofdevice type 2. Further, in the example of FIG. 13C, a new messagedestination telephone number, a new message destination e/mail address,and a new message destination network address are included at locationsfollowing the secondary code in the setting command for the case ofdevice type 3.

Further, in the present embodiment, when the device-type-basis messagedestination setting command, sent by the center system 2, is received atthe management apparatus 15, the management apparatus 15 updates adevice-type-basis message destination table that is retained in thememory of the management apparatus 15, in response to the receivedcommand, so as to create a new destination table.

FIG. 14 shows an example of the device-type-basis message destinationtable used in the image forming device management system of the presentembodiment. As shown in FIG. 14, the message destination telephonenumbers, the message destination e/mail addresses, or others are definedon a device-type basis in the device-type-basis message destinationtable. In the present embodiment, the destination of a failure messagesent by the management apparatus 15 varies depending on the type of thefailing image forming device 10, which is in conformity with thecontents of the device-type-basis message destination table currentlystored in the management apparatus 15.

Alternatively, as described above, the device-type-basis messagedestination setting of the management apparatus 15 may be changed fromthe stored message destination numbers to new message destinationnumbers in accordance with the operator's manual operation that islocally performed on the management apparatus 15.

The above feature of the image forming device management system isuseful to provide flexibility in updating the parameter of the remotemaintenance of the image forming devices, which is currently selected bythe image forming device management program.

Next, a description will be given of the communication adapter 17 in thecustomer premise system 1-2 of the image forming device managementsystem of FIG. 3.

By performing the polling process on the management apparatus 15, thecommunication adapter 17 determines whether the management apparatus 15is waiting for sending a failure message to the communication adapter17. When the management apparatus 15 is waiting for sending the failuremessage and receives the polling sequence sent by the communicationadapter 17, the management apparatus 15 transmits the failure message tothe PSTN 3 through the communication adapter 17.

When the failure message sent by the management apparatus 15 is receivedat the communication adapter 17, the communication adapter 17temporarily stores the received message and senses a vacant state of thetelephone line on the PSTN 3. When the telephone line is in a vacantstate, the communication adapter 17 transmits the stored message to thePSTN 3. When the telephone line is in a busy state, the communicationadapter 17 is waiting for sending the stored message to the PSTN 3. Byrepeating the sensing of the telephone line at given intervals, thecommunication adapter 17 establishes a call to the destination stationon the PSTN 3 until the telephone line becomes vacant, and then sendsthe stored message to the PSTN 3.

When the communication adapter 17 fails to transmit the failure messagedue to a certain problem, the communication adapter 17 sends an errormessage, indicating the cause of the error, back to the managementapparatus 15.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments,and variations and modifications may be made without departing from thescope of the present invention.

Further, the present invention is based on Japanese priority applicationNo.11-187123, filed on Jul. 1, 1999, and Japanese priority applicationNo.2000-174345, filed on Jun. 9, 2000, the entire contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image forming device management systemcomprising a customer system and a center system linked by a network,the customer system having a plurality of image forming devices and atleast one management apparatus connected onto a first LAN at a customerlocation, the center system having one or a plurality of computersconnected onto a second LAN at a center location, the image formingdevice management system comprising: monitoring means, provided in themanagement apparatus, for monitoring operating conditions of the imageforming devices on the first LAN; storing means, provided in themanagement apparatus, for storing results of the monitoring of theoperating conditions by the monitoring means; failure detecting means,provided in the management apparatus, for detecting a failure in any ofthe image forming devices on the first LAN; first message means,provided in the management apparatus, for transmitting a failure messageto the center system via the network when the failure is detected by thefailure detecting means, the failure message including a failure codeprovided to identify the failure; reading means, provided in the centersystem, for reading the results of the monitoring of the operatingconditions of the image forming devices from the management apparatus;retrieval means, provided in the center system, for receiving thefailure message transmitted by the first message means, and foraccessing a database of the center system using the failure code of thereceived failure message to produce results of the accessing; and secondmessage means, provided in the center system, for extracting a servicedepartment ID from the database based on the accessing results producedby the retrieval means, and for transmitting a service request messageto a service department indicated by the service department ID.
 2. Theimage forming device management system according to claim 1, wherein themanagement apparatus is configured such that the management apparatuscan be selectively set in one of an auto message mode or a manualmessage mode, and, when the management apparatus is set in the automessage mode, the first message means automatically transmits thefailure message to the center system upon occurrence of the failure,and, when the management apparatus is set in the manual message mode,the first message means transmits the failure message to the centersystem in response to a manual operation performed on the managementapparatus by an operator.
 3. The image forming device management systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the management apparatus is configuredsuch that the setting of the management apparatus in one of the automessage mode or the manual message mode can be changed in response to amanual operation performed on the management apparatus by the operator.4. The image forming device management system according to claim 2,wherein the management apparatus is configured such that the setting ofthe management apparatus in one of the auto message mode or the manualmessage mode can be changed in response to a setting command remotelysent to the management apparatus by the center system.
 5. The imageforming device management system according to claim 1, wherein thecenter system further includes maintenance means for changing a messagedestination setting data, stored in the management apparatus, to a newdata by remotely transmitting a setting command from the center systemto the management apparatus.
 6. The image forming device managementsystem according to claim 1, wherein the center system further includesmaintenance means for changing a device-type-basis message destinationsetting data, stored in the management apparatus with respect torespective types of the image forming devices, to a new data by remotelytransmitting a setting command from the center system to the managementapparatus.
 7. The image forming device management system according toclaim 1, wherein the customer system further comprises a communicationadapter configured to connect the management apparatus through thecommunication adapter to the network, and a communication line,configured for one of the image forming devices to connect to thenetwork, is shared with the management apparatus by using thecommunication adapter.
 8. The image forming device management systemaccording to claim 5, wherein the message destination setting datastored in the management apparatus includes at least a destinationtelephone number, and the maintenance means changes the destinationtelephone number to a new destination telephone number by remotelytransmitting a predetermined destination setting command code to themanagement apparatus.
 9. The image forming device management systemaccording to claim 5, wherein the message destination setting datastored in the management apparatus includes at least a destinationelectronic mail address, and the maintenance means changes thedestination electronic mail address to a new destination electronic mailaddress by remotely transmitting a predetermined destination settingcommand code to the management apparatus.
 10. The image forming devicemanagement system according to claim 5, wherein the message destinationsetting data stored in the management apparatus includes at least adestination network address, and the maintenance means changes thedestination network address to a new destination network address byremotely transmitting a predetermined destination setting command codeto the management apparatus.
 11. A center system for use in an imageforming device management system comprising a customer system and thecenter system linked by a network, the customer system having aplurality of image forming devices and at least one management apparatusconnected onto a first LAN at a customer location, the center systemhaving one or a plurality of computers connected onto a second LAN at acenter location, the center system comprising: reading means for readingresults of monitoring of operating conditions of the image formingdevices from the management apparatus; retrieval means for receiving afailure message transmitted by the management apparatus via the network,and for accessing a database of the center system using a failure codecontained in the received failure message to produce results of theaccessing; and message means for extracting a service department ID fromthe database based on the accessing results produced by the retrievalmeans, and for transmitting a service request message to a servicedepartment indicated by the service department ID.
 12. The center systemaccording to claim 11, further comprising maintenance means for changinga message destination setting data, stored in the management apparatus,to a new data by remotely transmitting a setting command from the centersystem to the management apparatus.
 13. The center system according toclaim 11, further comprising maintenance means for changing adevice-type-basis message destination setting data, stored in themanagement apparatus with respect to respective types of the imageforming devices, to a new data by remotely transmitting a settingcommand from the center system to the management apparatus.
 14. Thecenter system according to claim 12, wherein the message destinationsetting data stored in the management apparatus includes at least adestination telephone number, and the maintenance means changes thedestination telephone number to a new destination telephone number byremotely transmitting a predetermined destination setting command codeto the management apparatus.
 15. The center system according to claim12, wherein the message destination setting data stored in themanagement apparatus includes at least a destination electronic mailaddress, and the maintenance means changes the destination electronicmail address to a new destination electronic mail address by remotelytransmitting a predetermined destination setting command code to themanagement apparatus.
 16. The center system according to claim 12,wherein the message destination setting data stored in the managementapparatus includes at least a destination network address, and themaintenance means changes the destination network address to a newdestination network address by remotely transmitting a predetermineddestination setting command code to the management apparatus.
 17. Amanagement method for an image forming device management systemcomprising a customer system and a center system linked by a network,the customer system having a plurality of image forming devices and atleast one management apparatus connected onto a first LAN at a customerlocation, the center system having one or a plurality of computersconnected onto a second LAN at a center location, the management methodcomprising the steps of: monitoring operating conditions of the imageforming devices on the first LAN by the management apparatus; storingresults of the monitoring of the operating conditions of the imageforming devices; detecting a failure in any of the image forming deviceson the first LAN by the management apparatus; transmitting a failuremessage from the management apparatus to the center system via thenetwork when the failure is detected, the failure message including afailure code provided to identify the failure; reading the monitoringresults from the management apparatus by the center system; receivingthe failure message, transmitted by the management apparatus, at thecenter system; accessing a database of the center system using thefailure code of the received failure message to produce results of theaccessing; extracting a service department ID from the database based onthe accessing results; and transmitting a service request message fromthe center system to a service department indicated by the servicedepartment ID.
 18. A management method for a center system in an imageforming device management system comprising a customer system and thecenter system linked by a network, the customer system having aplurality of image forming devices and at least one management apparatusconnected onto a first LAN at a customer location, the center systemhaving one or a plurality of computers connected onto a second LAN at acenter location, the management method comprising: reading results ofmonitoring of operating conditions of the image forming devices fromsaid at least one management apparatus; receiving a failure messagetransmitted by said at least one management apparatus via the network;accessing a database of the center system using a failure code containedin the received failure message to produce results of the accessing;extracting a service department ID from the database based on theaccessing results; and transmitting a service request message to aservice department indicated by the service department ID.
 19. An imageforming device management system comprising a customer system and acenter system linked by a network, the customer system having aplurality of image forming devices and at least one management apparatusconnected onto a first LAN at a customer location, the center systemhaving one or a plurality of computers connected onto a second LAN at acenter location, the image forming device management system comprising:a monitoring unit provided in said at least one management apparatus andconfigured to monitor operating conditions of the image forming deviceson the first LAN; a storing unit provided in said at least onemanagement apparatus and configured to store results of the monitoringof the operating conditions by the monitoring unit; a failure detectingunit provided in said at least one management apparatus and configuredto detect a failure in any of the image forming devices on the firstLAN; a first message unit provided in said at least one managementapparatus and configured to transmit a failure message to the centersystem via the network when the failure is detected by the failuredetecting unit, the failure message including a failure code provided toidentify the failure; a reading unit provided in the center system andconfigured to read the results of the monitoring of the operatingconditions of the image forming devices from said at least onemanagement apparatus; a retrieval unit provided in the center system andconfigured to receive the failure message transmitted by the firstmessage unit, and to access a database of the center system using thefailure code of the received failure message to produce results of theaccess; and a second message unit provided in the center system andconfigured to extract a service department ID from the database based onthe access results produced by the retrieval unit, and to transmit aservice request message to a service department indicated by the servicedepartment ID.
 20. A center system for use in an image forming devicemanagement system comprising a customer system and the center systemlinked by a network, the customer system having a plurality of imageforming devices and at least one management apparatus connected onto afirst LAN at a customer location, the center system having one or aplurality of computers connected onto a second LAN at a center location,the center system comprising: a reading unit configured to read resultsof monitoring of operating conditions of the image forming devices fromsaid at least one management apparatus; a retrieval unit configured toreceive a failure message transmitted by said at least one managementapparatus via the network, and to access a database of the center systemusing a failure code contained in the received failure message toproduce results of the access; and a message unit configured to extracta service department ID from the database based on the access resultsproduced by the retrieval unit, and to transmit a service requestmessage to a service department indicated by the service department ID.21. A management apparatus for use in an image forming device managementsystem comprising a customer system and a center system linked by anetwork, the customer system having a plurality of image forming devicesand the management apparatus connected onto a first LAN at customerlocation, the center system having one or a plurality of computersconnected onto a second LAN at a center location, the managementapparatus comprising: monitoring means for monitoring operatingconditions of the image forming devices on the first LAN; storing meansfor storing results of the monitoring of the operating conditions by themonitoring means; failure detecting means for detecting a failure in anyof the image forming devices on the first LAN; and message means fortransmitting a failure message to the center system via the network whena failure is detected by the failure detecting means, the failuremessage including a failure code provided to identify the failure,wherein the management apparatus is configured such that the managementapparatus can be selectively set in one of an auto message mode or amanual message mode, and, when the management apparatus is set in theauto message mode, the message means automatically transmits the failuremessage to the center system upon occurrence of the failure, and, whenthe management apparatus is set in the manual message mode, the messagemeans transmits the failure message to the center system in response toa manual operation performed on the management apparatus by an operator.22. The management apparatus according to claim 21, wherein themanagement apparatus is configured such that the setting of themanagement apparatus in one of the auto message mode or the manualmessage mode can be changed in response to the manual operationperformed on the management apparatus by the operator.